Loyalty follows the main character Ezekiel Miller (Zek) as he prepares to leave his hometown, Lake Shore, to attend Howard University on a full academic scholarship. Not wanting to leave his best friend behind, Ezekiel convinces Gabriel (G) to come to Washington DC with him, in hopes he can figure out his own niche in life. Things seem to be flowing perfectly for the two young men, that is until they agree to do a favor for a local neighborhood friend/drug dealer that puts them in the midst of Hugo, a notorious, unforgiving businessman. What once seemed like a promising future for Ezekiel, quickly shifts to being a nightmare as he is faced with the reality that he must pledge his loyalty to Hugo or lose everything, including his life.

I truly enjoyed the book. I think Marcus captured a lot of emotion throughout with the characters. You get a perfect snapshot of what it is like in reality when one friend is going off to bigger and better things, and the other finds themselves on another road. The book takes a surprising turn that you don’t want to miss.

Ali Shakur is the C.E.O and an author of A.N.B House Of Royalty LLC. With the release of his first book Loyalty, Ali Shakur, a native of Chicago, is creating his own path in the world of Urban Fiction storytelling. As the acting CEO of ANB House of Royalty LLC, Mr. Shakur is holding back no punches. As a child, his mother never bought him any video games or any electronic devices, but she made sure he had plenty of toys. From there he developed an imagination that allowed him to create storylines for his toys. Ali’s imagination became his safe haven from reality. No matter if he was in school or anywhere else, he would create these stories in his head and as soon as he got home would get the toys and act out what was created during the day. Even to this day, he creates storylines in his head, but instead of playing with toys he puts them down on paper.

As a writer, Ali hopes to win many awards, tour the country, and make a lot of money. He wants to be able to leave a legacy behind that his children can be proud of. The plan right now is to make Loyalty a trilogy. So, the next title is named La Santa Trinidad. That’s Spanish for The Holy Trinity. Ali is looking at a release date of June 14, 2019, which is the one year anniversary of Loyalty. Expect new characters and a new storyline that still intertwines with the original. Since Ali is signed to A.N.B, everything he does will be distributed through them, so with that being said, he is releasing a tee-shirt line that should be happening sooner than later. In about two weeks. Very excited about that.

Some encouraging words from Ali, “Just follow your dreams! The dreams that seem crazy and far-fetched. The dreams that seem hard to achieve, those are the dreams you need to chase. Don’t worry about the next person, live your life. Be who you are, don’t let society dictate how you should act, think, or believe. Live your life, it’s yours and you only get one. Be the same animal, but a different beast. Don’t just overcome the obstacles that are thrown at you, destroy them! But more importantly, never, ever give up! As long as you’re above ground and you can do for self, the race is not over. It’s not where you finish, it’s how you finish.”